The present invention relates to a conveyor device, and particularly to a conveyor device for controlling the posture and position of a package during conveyance process in the distribution of goods.
It is necessary to move packages in a direction orthogonal to the direction of advancement of the conveyor in order to control merging and divergence of packages in distributing goods.
Namely, when a case is considered where packages are merged or diverged, as shown in FIG. 11, for example, first, in order to merge packages flowing from three lines, it is necessary to move the packages closer to the center of the conveyor, and then, in order to diverge them in two directions, it is necessary to distribute the packages to the left and right to come in line with the positions of the conveyors that are the divergence destinations.
In case of goods distribution equipment of conventional methods, a member referred to as a xe2x80x9cshoexe2x80x9d that operates along a rail located at a fixed angle with respect to the traveling direction of the package presses against the package so as to push and thereby to move the package in an orthogonal direction at the position at which it is wished to provide divergence.
FIG. 10 shows a method based on such shoes for the divergence to the left and right wherein each of a number of shoes 101 located on the rail 100 located at a fixed angle with respect to the direction of travel are generally retracted to a standby position, and is moved thereby pushing the package W in the direction of the sorting unit when a corresponding package W comes close to a corresponding sorting unit 102, so that the package W is ejected to the side of the sorting unit 102.
These conventional conveyance methods have the following problems.
(1) The diverging method employing shoes is a mechanical diverging method and it is therefore necessary to modify the conveyor device as a whole in order to change the layout. This requires a large amount of labor, time and money.
(2) It is necessary to have a distance of exactly one shoe between packages in order to move the shoes and thereby to push the packages.
(3) The shoe movement is determined by the rail and thus no operation is possible to take into consideration the width and posture of the package. The package moving down in a tilted condition cannot be aligned in a line and each package can only be pushed by the same number of shoes, regardless of whether the package is large or small, and thus, pushing of large packages becomes unstable.
(4) When a package is pushed by shoes, the positions of each package are aligned along a surface where it is pushed, but when the width of the each package is different, the alignment of the position of center cannot be achieved and the alignment of the package along a surface on an opposite side to the shoe cannot be achieved.
(5) The angle of the rail for pushing the shoes is mechanically fixed, and thus, there may be cases where a package may be kicked off depending on the condition such as the weight, size or speed of conveyance of the package. Consequently, it may be necessary to change the conveyor device as a whole in order to change the conveyance speed.
(6) When it is intended to perform at a high speed complex branching and merging controls as shown in FIG. 11, the number of types of the conveyor device to be used becomes many and the shape of conveyor device to be used becomes long. Consequently, the work of mounting becomes complex and requires a large amount of space.
(7) More than anything, it was not possible with the conventional device apparatus to mount a package at any position on a conveyor portion of the conveyor device or to change the posture of a package in any manner.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device which makes it possible to maintain a package in any posture, to change into any posture, and to move a package in a goods distribution system etc. The object is also to provide a device which enables the implementation of a goods distribution system of flexible type wherein it is possible to reduce the number of types of goods distribution equipment employed in the construction of a goods distribution system and also to eliminate the need to enlarge the device itself and thereby being flexible when a high speed is to be achieved.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the invention of claim 1 is directed to a conveyor device comprising a main conveyor portion formed by linking together a plurality of conveyor sub-units, and a driving means for driving the main conveyor portion, wherein each of the conveyor sub-units comprises a secondary conveyor portion, a drive means for secondary conveyor portion for driving the secondary conveyor portion forward and in reverse, and means for communicating with a control instruction device, and wherein a conveying direction of each of the secondary conveyor portion is orthogonal to a conveying direction of the main conveyor portion.
The conveyor sub-units constituting the main conveyor portion of the conveyor device each has a conveyor portion (the conveying portion of each conveyor sub-unit is hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ca secondary conveyor portionxe2x80x9d). In another words, each conveyor unit has by itself a function as a conveyor.
The conveyor direction of each secondary conveyor portion (secondary conveyor direction) is in a direction orthogonal to the conveyor direction of the main conveyor portion of the conveyor device (main conveyor direction).
The control instruction device is a control means for instructing the operation of the conveyor sub-units or the operation of the conveyor device comprising the conveyor sub-units and is a control device, such as a host computer, provided externally of the conveyor sub-units.
The communication means for communicating between the conveyor sub-units and the control instruction device may be cabled or wireless. The conveyor device is made capable of moving packages on the main conveyor portion in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel of the main conveyor portion and of changing the posture of the package as a result of each conveyor sub-unit driving the secondary conveyor portion based on the instructions from the control instruction device.
The invention of claim 2 is directed to a conveyor device comprising a main conveyor portion formed by linking together a plurality of conveyor sub-units, and a drive means for driving the main conveyor portion, wherein each of the conveyor sub-unit comprises a secondary conveyor portion, a drive means for secondary conveyor portion for driving the secondary conveyor portion forward and in reverse, and a means for performing inter-units communication with other conveyor sub-units, wherein at least one of the conveyor sub-units comprises a means for communicating with a control instruction device, and wherein a conveying direction of each secondary conveyor portion is in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the main conveyor portion.
Each conveyor unit has a means for mutually communicating with other sub-units (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cinter-sub-units communication meansxe2x80x9d), and thus, each conveyor unit becomes capable of operating based on the information from other conveyor units. As a result, packages on the main conveyor portion can be moved in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel of the main conveyor portion and of changing the posture of a package by each conveyor sub-unit driving the secondary conveyor portion based on the instructions from the control instruction device.
It is by no means necessary for the means for communicating with the control instruction device and the inter-sub-unit communication means to be two separate means, and the same means maybe used for these means.
The invention of claim 3 is directed to the conveyor device of either claim 1 or 2, wherein some or all of the conveyor sub-units each comprises a detection means for detecting a position of a package on its own secondary conveyor portion.
Some or all of the conveyor sub-units may each be provided with a detection means for detecting the position of a package thereby making it possible to use the package position information as the information for moving the package for changing the posture of package.
The invention of claim 4 is directed to the conveyor device of any one of claims 1 through 3, wherein some or all of the conveyor sub-units each comprises a control means for the drive means for driving a secondary conveyor portion.
The conveyor sub-units have internal control means separate from the external control device thereby making it possible to operate in an intelligent manner.
The invention of claim 5 is directed to the conveyor device of any one of claims 1 through 4, wherein the conveyor sub-units are linked together in an endless manner.
It is a conveyor device wherein the main conveyor portion is arranged in an endless manner.
The invention of claim 6 is directed to a conveyor system comprising a control instruction device and the conveyor device of any one of claims 1 through 5, wherein the conveyor sub-units belonging to the portion where the package is mounted operate cooperatively when a package is mounted so as to straddle across a plurality of the conveyor sub-units constituting the main conveyor portion.
One of the features of this conveyor system resides in that it is operated so that the conveyor sub-units on which a package is mounted operate cooperatively when a package is mounted so as to straddle across a plurality of the conveyor sub-units. The package can be made to move in a direction orthogonal to the main conveyor direction or to cause the posture of the package to be changed by cooperatively and appropriately moving the secondary conveyor portion of the conveyor sub-units belonging to the portion on which the package is mounted by only an amount necessary for the implementation of the targeted position and posture.
The invention of claim 7 is directed to a conveyor system comprising a control instruction device and a conveyor device, wherein the conveyor device comprises a main conveyor portion formed by a plurality of conveyor sub-units being coupled and a drive means for the main conveyor portion, wherein the each conveyor sub-unit comprises a secondary conveyor portion, a drive means for driving the secondary conveyor portion forward and in reverse, a means for inter-units communication with other conveyor sub-units, a detection means for detecting a position of a package on its own secondary conveyor portion, and a control means for the drive means for the secondary conveyor portion, wherein at least one of the conveyor sub-units comprises a means for communicating with a control instruction device, wherein a conveying direction of the each secondary conveyor portion is in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the main conveyor portion, and wherein when a package is mounted on the main conveyor portion, the conveyor sub-units belonging to a portion where the package is mounted cooperatively operate where each:
(1) recognizes the position of the package on its own secondary conveyor portion by using the detection means,
(2) calculates a required amount of movement for its own secondary conveyor portion from a relationship between a package position to be materialized and is given by an instruction from the control instruction device and a current package position, and
(3) moves its own secondary conveyor portion only by the required amount by using the drive means for the secondary conveyor portion.
Among the conveyor sub-units constituting the main conveyor portion, the conveyor units belonging to the portion on which a package is mounted form a single group, and receive the instructions from the control instruction device and thereby obtain the position information of the package mounted on itself, and each of the conveyor units exchanges with each other the package position information thereby calculating based on such information the amount of movement required for their own secondary conveyor portion to implement the instruction from the control instruction device, and then moving the secondary conveyor portion of their own by the necessary amount. As a result, each conveyor sub-unit drives its respective secondary conveyor portion and thereby making it possible to move the package on the main conveyor portion in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel of the main conveyor portion or to change in any manner the posture of the package based on the instruction from the control instruction device when a package is mounted straddling across a plurality of conveyor sub-units.
The invention of claim 8 is directed to a conveyor sub-unit having a conveyor portion, comprising:
(1) a drive means for conveyor portion,
(2) a detecting means for detecting a position of a package on a conveyor portion,
(3) a communication means for communicating with a control instruction device, and
(4) a control means for controlling the drive means for conveyor portion.
The invention of claim 9 is directed to a conveyor sub-unit having a conveyor portion, comprising:
(1) a drive means for conveyor portion,
(2) a detecting means for detecting a position of a package on a conveyor portion,
(3) a communication means for inter-units communication with other conveyor sub-units, and
(4) a control means for controlling the drive means for conveyor portion.
The invention of claim 10 is directed to a conveyor sub-unit having a conveyor portion, comprising:
(1) a drive means for conveyor portion,
(2) a detecting means for detecting a position of a package on a conveyor portion,
(3) a communication means for communicating with a control instruction device,
(4) a communication means for inter-units communication with other conveyor sub-units, and
(5) a control means for controlling the drive means for conveyor portion.
The inventions of claim 8 through 10 are directed to a conveyor sub-unit. When the conveyor device or the conveyor system of any of claim 1 through 7 is constructed, a plurality of units are coupled to constitute the main conveyor portion, with the conveyor portion of the respective conveyor sub-units constituting the secondary conveyor portion of the conveyor device. Further, a use of a plurality of the units in other mode is also possible.